ARE ABELL CLUSTERS CORRELATED WITH GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

A recent study has presented marginal statistical evidence that gamma- ray burst (GRB) sources are correlated with Abell clusters, based on a nalyses of bursts in the BATSE 3B catalog. Using precise localization information from the Third Interplanetary Network, we have reanalyzed this possible correlation, We find that most of the Abell clusters tha t are in the relatively large 3B error circles are not in the much sma ller IPN/BATSE error regions. We believe that this argues strongly aga inst an Abell cluster-GRB correlation.